What's in the Box
Olympus SP-500 UZ digital camera, strap, multi-connector for USB and AV, 4 AA batteries, basic instruction manual, quick start guide, warranty card, CD ROM: Olympus Master Software, and advanced manual.

Product Description
The SP-500 is a hybrid digital-camera. It's shaped closer to an SLR than a compact model. The optical zoom, however, is 10x - compared to 3x on a compact model. When compared to a 35mm, the SP-500 has a focal length of 38mm to 380mm. That's wide-angle to large telephoto, yet the lens remains extraordinarily compact. It's designed for easy use but has manual capabilities to let you exercise your creative potential. Overall...a very fine camera. Recording Modes - DCF Exif 2.21, JPEG , PIM 27 shooting modes - AUTO, Program Auto, A, S, M, MY, Scene Preset (Portrait, Landscape, Landscape + Portrait, Night Scene, Sport, Night + Portrait, Indoor, Candle, Self-Portrait, Available Light Portrait, Sunset, Fireworks, Museum, Behind Glass, Cuisine, Documents, Auction, Shoot & Select1, Shoot & Select2, Beach, Snow) Panorama Modes Up to 10 frames automatically stitchable with Olympus Master software when using Olympus brand xD-Picture card Switch things up by adding an optional conversion lens via the threaded lens barrel. Camera speed and image quality receive a great boost thanks to the exclusive TruePic TURBO Image Processor Record up to 4 seconds of sound with each still picture captured, or add sound later on Uses xD-PictureCard storage Uses 4 AA batteries - We advise purchasing optional rechargeable AA Playback images on the LCD, a computer or your TV in a slideshow using any of 9 transitions Comfortable ergonomic grip Windows PC and Macintosh compatible Size 4.15 W x 2.93 H x 2.80 D / Weight 10.05 oz.

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Product Reviews:

          
 Point and shoot with SLR Speed?, October 16, 2005
Reviewer: Sinister Minister
Hi All!
Sin Min here with another run down for you on a new camera. Now, I don't own this one but I have given it some hands on testing and I was impressed enough, that I thought I'd pass it on. As some of you know (or may not know) I work as a Pro pix taker by day, and sell cameras for BestBuy by night (hey gets me out of the house!) So I basically spend 90% of any given day with a camera in my hand. The SP-500 UZ is one of several new models being offered to the public by Olympus this year. We have recieved three of these so far and this camera is best of the lot.The size of the camera is deceptive, when I first saw pictures of it i thought it would be around the size of the immortal C-8080! But it is about 45% smaller with twice the Zoom!
Hmmm-impressive to be sure. However with only a 6MP CCD I lost a tad of enthusiasum (I love to shoot at 7MP or higher).Olympus hasn't changed much as far as menu layout, operation, and basic functions, however looks can be deceving. When the camera arrived at the store I was in the process of setting up the camera for display, when a customer came up and asked me about differences in speed between point and shoot cameras, prosumer cameras, and the SLRs. I proceeded to tell him the usual...how SLR cameras will always be faster than point and shoot, smaller point and shoot cameras are built just for snap shots so If your looking for speed you need more camera, blah, blah. Except for some of the Sony point and shoot cameras which have a fair speed rate.Anyway, so here I am telling this guy, how point and shoot cameras are so slow, I said "Here take this camera for example." holding up the SP-500. " I'll set the camera to "Burst" mode and you'll see how much slower it is." So I set it up hit the shutter and all of a sudden...POP!POP!POP!POP!POP!POP! This dinky little point and shoot camera pops off about 15 shots nearly as fast as the D-50 I just showed the guy! I'm standing there looking like someone just smacked me in the face with a 2X4, and he's looking at me like I should be selling CDs or something!! Long story short the guy bought the SP-500!
Now I own a C-8080 as well as an E-300 SLR and as near as I can tell from taking pictures within the store the overall picture quality is on par with Olympus higher end cameras, The Pictures are clear and bright, and the sharpness levels are all great. I can't say how the camera would fare in ambient or low light (not much low anything in BestBuy) but I assume the SP-500 would perform in a similar fashion to my cameras.The SP-500 is the latest in a new trend of digital cameras, that I like to call "Power Point N Shoot" Higher resolutions 7 and 8MP, more features but still the same crappy 3x optical Zoom.(Except in the case of this camera) One of the new Olympus models is a tiny camera with 8MP and a hot shoe!! The freaking flash would be twice the size of the camera! I Gave the SP-500 only 4 stars because of the cheesy resolution they gave the camera. At the size it is , if they had made it 7 or and 8MP it would have been something to really be excited about. But as I said whatever else this little camera is fast...Very Fast!!
Thanks for reading and Happy Shooting!
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olympus sp-500uz, March 20, 2006
Reviewer: jeffrey "elcamino39"
great camera, this is my first digital camera and seems just fine for my uses. i've used a canon 35mm film camera for years and the convenience of digital is incredible. i've taken several portrait photos and some action shots of my dog. they have turned out fine. i would recomend this camera for any photographer.

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